As a spiritual entrepreneur, does the idea of having a successful, profitable business make you feel vaguely uncomfortable?

(It’s okay—you don’t have to raise your hand or anything.)

I suspect a part of you absolutely wants a business that pays you well and helps you get your message or gifts out into the world.

But, does a part of you struggle with the idea of having a successful business? Do you think to yourself “I’m spiritual; I shouldn’t be concerned with practical things like money and business.”

If this is you, I want to begin by saying this: you’re not alone. A lot of spiritual entrepreneurs struggle with their businesses.

And, it’s my personal belief that a lot of that struggle and angst can be avoided.

Why?

Because many issues can be traced back to 3 fundamental myths about what it means to be a spiritual entrepreneur.

Just like artists and writers and other creative professionals, I feel spiritual entrepreneurs are plagued by their own history of failure and self doubt and getting in their own way.

What if having a successful, profitable business was as easy as a simple mindset shift? Would you be willing to give it a try and see what happens?

My personal belief is it really CAN be that easy—and to help, I’m busting what I consider the 3 biggest myths standing in your way of being a spiritual entrepreneur with a successful, profitable business.

Let’s get started.

Myth #1. As a spiritual entrepreneur, you’re not good at business.

This is obvious, right? You’re concerned with spiritual matters, not pragmatic things like running a business.

Besides, maybe you think business stuff is boring. Or difficult. Or you’re not good at. Or it’s “beneath” you in some way.

You just want to make the world a better place while enjoying time and money freedom—you don’t want to be mired down in spreadsheets and reports and that other icky stuff.

I, too, thought I wasn’t good at business. I thought it was boring, and I really didn’t want to have anything to do with it.

But, a funny thing happened: the more I pulled up my big girl panties and dug into learning business concepts, the more I realized I actually enjoyed running a business.

This is a huge one. In our culture, we’ve somehow separated making money and being spiritual, when there really is no reason to separate the two.

I believe money is a form of energy. It’s a way for people to give back to you and a way for you to receive payment for your offerings. It doesn’t have to be bad or evil or selfish or greedy.

Honestly, our relationship with money is just so tangled, there’s no way I can do it justice in this post (which is why I wrote an entire book on this—“Love-Based Money and Mindset,” as have devoted an entire podcast to transforming our relationship with money and our money stories) but I’d like to invite you to sit with this statement, and really feel into it:

There’s no virtue in being broke.

If you can’t help yourself, there’s no way you can help anyone else.

And, I know plenty of very spiritual entrepreneurs who are also financially successful. It doesn’t have to be either/or.

What if you could be both—financially and spiritually successful? What would that look like? How would your life and business shift?

Myth #3. As a spiritual entrepreneur, you’re supposed to suffer.

After all, our spiritual and religious leaders have suffered. Look at Jesus or Gandhi—they suffered. That means we should suffer, too. Right?

Well … first off, are we so sure they suffered? Sure they may have had a challenging life, but lots of us do. That doesn’t mean they suffered.

It’s my belief that a lot of suffering is a choice, and that choice takes place in our head. We suffer when we allow our fear-based emotions to run amok in our heads, and torture us unmercifully.

After all, there are very wealthy people who spend their days numbing out with booze and prescription pills, while women in Africa spend a big chunk of their lives carrying the water they need to survive on their heads—content and peaceful.

What gives?

Money alone isn’t a guarantee of happiness, just as a lack of money isn’t a guarantee of suffering. A lot of it boils down to your mindset, and what sort of relationship you have with your fear-based emotions.

And just like being broke isn’t virtuous and noble, neither is suffering. Suffering doesn’t make you more spiritual. It doesn’t even make you a better person. (I think we all know mean-spirited, nasty people who are definitely suffering, and making sure everyone around them suffers, too.)

Having a successful, profitable business and being proud of that business doesn’t make you a bad person. It doesn’t make you less spiritual.

It may allow you to help more people.

What if you didn’t have to suffer to be spiritual? What would open up for you? How would you approach your business if you knew that suffering was simply a choice, and you weren’t going to make that choice anymore?